Page 49 of One Night Gamble
“I heard you,” Darien said. “Fine, I’ve said my piece.”
He backed away.
“What will it take for you to let this go?” Casey asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, running his hand over his head. “I’ve never seen you like this. I just don’t want to see you crash and burn like I did, I guess. I mean seeing Poppy again makes me realize how deep that damage can go. You know that besides Rio, you and Nick are all I’ve got. I can’t walk away when I see one of you in danger.”
“Why don’t we let fate decide?” Casey suggested.
Talia leaned closer to look down at him. What was he saying? That he would decide if she should stay in his life based on chance? He’d said last night that it had brought them together, but she’d forgotten that this morning. She’d felt like the love she had for him was returned. That maybe after last night, they’d crossed into a new territory, moving forward as a couple.
Then again, maybe she’d misunderstood.
But she saw him walk to the table where he’d pulled the deck from that night when they’d met. That night when he’d high carded her for clothing. Her heart was in her throat as he broke the seal on a new pack of cards and shook them out into his free hand. He shuffled the cards like the consummate professional he was and she told herself to look away. Or better yet, walk away. But she couldn’t.
She watched him hand the deck to Darien to cut and then they both took a card and she stood there watching, as if her life didn’t hang in the balance, too shocked and heartbroken to move as Darien flipped his card onto the table where so much of her life with Casey had taken place.
“Jack of Spades.”
She inhaled deeply and then realized she was holding her breath as she waited, and Casey flipped his card over. “Ace of Hearts. It’s done. She’s mine and she’s staying. I don’t want to hear another word about it.”
Her hands were shaking as she took the first step. The click of her heels against the marble sounded loud in the hallway. Both men turned to look up at her.
“I think I might have something to say about that.”
…
Darien backed away and was out the door before Casey could punch him. This morning wasn’t going at all the way he had planned. He looked up at Talia—she was pissed. And he couldn’t blame her.
“I can explain,” he said. Though he had no idea how he was going to. She had a thing about gambling anyway. How was he going to tell her that he’d always been lucky at cards? That he had a gut feeling about which card would turn up, and he’d never been wrong? To him, this had been a sure thing.
“I would love to hear you try,” she said.
“Darien was being difficult,” Casey argued.
“I don’t give a shit about Darien. I’m wondering how the man who followed me last night and spent twenty minutes talking to me in the parking lot and telling me that we could make something real and lasting would bet our future on a card? I’m pretty sure you were the one who suggested that, not Darien,” she said, coming the rest of the way down the stairs.
“I was. But I don’t lose at cards,” he said.
“You did when we played,” she said.
“Did I?”
“Didn’t you? Was it all a lie? Has everything just been one big game to you?” she asked.
“No. Talia, please, this isn’t going at all the way I want it to,” he said. “I’m not good with words. You know I’m an orphan…”
She shook her head. “Don’t do that. Don’t try to play on my emotions. It feels cheap, and I always thought you were better than that.”
God, he had no idea how to fix this. He took a step toward her but she backed away. It was the first time he’d seen that indomitable spirit that was so much a part of her dampened and he hated himself for doing this to her. He wanted to make things perfect for Talia—not show her that he was a douche like her old man.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant I have no couth, you know? I want to say the right things but words aren’t what I’m good at. Let me show you how much you mean to me,” he said, trying again to get close to her but she stepped away.
“You showed me when you opened that deck of cards,” she said. “What if you had lost?”
“Talia, Brown Eyes, I never lose,” he said.
She shook her head. “You just did.”
